I had a great day in school today. The 5th and 6th grade students worked to finish their topographical models of Mt. St. Helens, and almost all got satisfactory results. It was an experimental project like most that we do, with the results uncertain. No project should be too easy. This one wasn't. The 7th and 8th graders worked on turned tops and pens turned on the lathe. This was also the day for high school wood club. It is nice when students show extra attention for a subject in the after school hours.

I want to share just a bit more from Ethel J. Apelfels article, The Anthropology and Social Significance of the Human Hand from Artificial Limbs, May 1955.

THE HUMAN HAND IN ART
Through the ages the human hand has appeared in all of the creative arts of every culture. A single line, a schematic portrayal, a simple gesture of the hand, and character and personality stand revealed as clearly as they are seen in the human face. Recently, in the Kefauver investigation of crime in New York City, the television camera focused on the hands of a witness, and millions in the television audience watched while hands expressed feelings that man has taught his face to disguise. In the creative arts, the hand speaks, and one senses the tremendous power of the hand to convey human emotions. The hands are the organs of the body which, except for the face, have been used most often in the various art forms to express human feeling. The hands point or lead or command; the hands cry out in agony or they lie quietly sleeping; the hands have moods, character, and, in a wider sense, their own particular beauty. From prehistoric times to our own day, in every society known to science, the hands symbolize cultural behaviors, values, and beliefs.